GTA V!!!!

Rockstar has (sorta) announced the newest installment in the Grand Theft Auto series... GTA V!

There was a simple Tweet this morning from @rockstargames that simply said #GTAV and including a link to their homepage which features the picture to the right. As you can see from the pic, GTA V's first trailer is due next week... and well, that's pretty much all we know.

We could try and dissect the way the 'V' looks like it's cut out of a $5 bill, but there really isn't enough information to form any kind of basis from. People on the forums are saying it has a vibe similar to San Andreas, or maybe even Washington DC, but we really won't know anything until next week when the trailer is released.

All I can say is.... YAY!

This exciting news may just spark my interest to go back and start playing GTA games all over again (well at least since GTA III.) In fact, it is GTA III's 10th year anniversary and they are soon to be releasing an iOS version for iPad 2 (and maybe iPhone.) That would be a great place to start... and if I actually play through all the games and try to achieve 100%, the next GTA may be released by the time I finish.

- SPECULATION -

OK, if we base the release of the trailer on the release of the trailer for GTA IV... IV's trailer was released March 07... the release date for the game was supposed to be October 07 but was delayed and didn't come out until April 08. So it was supposed to be about 7 months away, but ended up being 13 months... I'll cross my fingers and hope that they are aiming for 6 or 7 months away which would put GTA V's release date approximately May or June. I hope we find out a bit more about the release next week as well. I'm Hype!

**UPDATE**

Last night I started playing through GTA III on Xbox and after about the 3rd mission I had to move on, simply because I've played through III about 20 times and it felt old... still great but old nonetheless...

I moved on to Vice City and again, it was nice returning but I had already played it a few dozen times so I moved on to San Andreas.

San Andreas did feel a bit more fresh and I got through about 5 missions... I have already beaten San Andreas a couple times and I've played it probably even more than III or Vice City, but I wanted to jump to the next gen console, so I put in...

GTA IV... This game I only beat twice in the past and I have played a bunch of times too, but it still feels very fresh, so I stuck with this and got through about 4 missions... I will continue playing through it until I beat it, also aim for getting 100%. After that's done, I'll play Lost and the Damned expansion and The Ballad of Gay Tony expansion. That will be tough enough to get through all of them, and probably last until the new game comes out... depending on how much free time I actually get to play.

Things I Wish Siri Could Do

I've been playing with Siri on the iPhone 4S since I got it, and it does remarkably well at a number of tasks, however there is room for improvement. Here is a list of things that I wish it could do and hope that it might eventually do.

- If you ask Siri "Do a Google search for Pandas" it will comply, but it would be nice if you could ask "Do a Google News search for Occupy Wall Street" or "Do a Google Image search for Scarlett Johannson."

- Sports Scores! Enough Said... I would love to ask "What's the score of the Notre Dame and Purdue game?" and have Siri say "The Score is Notre Dame 27, Purdue 3, it is the 4th quarter with 5:23 left to play."

- There were some features in the Siri App that have not (yet) made the transition to the 4S such as booking reservations for restaurants and looking up movie times (also possibly purchasing the tickets for you.) I think these things will come, but I want them NOW.

- App Accessibility. Siri will currently set an alarm (which uses the Clock App) or plot directions (using Google Maps,) but it'll be nice when and if it can at least open up other apps. "Siri, open up my Twitter app." or "Siri, open Youtube."

- Search. I think if you ask Siri to find something on your iPhone, some things it can, like contacts, but it would be nice if you could do a spotlight type of search with all media on your phone like "Find all pictures of me in Photos."

- Twitter, Facebook, etc... It would be nice to just say "Please Tweet the following, the traffic on 83 is horrible right now!" or "Please update facebook status to say, I just won the lottery suckers" or even if you just took a picture say "Please send picture to Facebook"

- Control Settings. How awesome would it be to simply tell Siri "Please turn off wifi" or "enable Bluetooth." This would be too sweet.


That's all I can think of right now... I'll try to think of more and make a similar post in the future...

iPhone 4S Review

Now that I've had 4 days to use my new iPhone 4S, I think it's about time to write a review. There are many new features, some were new to the iPhone 4 and some are new to the 4S... but they are all new to me because I am coming from an iPhone 3GS. Let me break it down.

The Retina Display:

I marveled at the Retina Display when it was announced for the iPhone 4, but the only glimpses I got of it were from my brother-in-law who had one. Actually having this display on my phone is amazing. The pictures are crystal clear, the app icons jump out at you and the text is the main highlight and looks as though the words are printed in a glossy magazine. It's spectacular.

Camera Enhancements:

The iPhone 4 made big strides with it's camera, upping the 3GS's 3 megapixels to 5 megapixels, 4 lenses, adding enhanced sensors, an LED flash, and a front facing camera. The 4S ups the ante and brings a whopping 8 megapixels, 5 lenses, even better sensors, 1080p HD video recording with image stabilization and the same LED flash and front facing camera. This camera puts this near the top of all smartphone camera available today. It is phenomenal to take such clear pictures, and it takes them fast too.

Processor Improvements:

The iPhone 4 utilized the iPad's A4 processor and the iPhone 4S now uses the iPad 2's A5 processor. Both had 512 MB Ram and have sped things up considerably. The 4S is remarkably fast and going from page to page and app to app is snappier than I've ever seen.

SIRI:

If those changes weren't enough, Apple is throwing in a little thing called Siri, which could simply be defined as a digital personal assistant. Siri uses voice recognition (licensed by Nuance,) to listen to your commands and questions and it uses Siri's artificially intelligent brain to figure out the meaning in your words and help out as needed. Siri is occasionally hit and miss, but for the most part it does what you need it to do and understands reasonably well. I've already used it a lot to text while driving, set up reminders, look up information, take notes, and just plain ask it silly questions. There is a good likelihood that voice control technology will be the newest interface. First computers needed keyboards, then mice, then touch, soon...voice.

Overall:

I Love It! Nuff Said.

iPhone 4S!!

Finally got my hands on the new iPhone 4S and it is as amazing as I had hoped. There's probably too much to talk about right now, it's much faster, the display clarity is beautiful and it has Siri, which I've had plenty of hits and misses with, but for the majority of the time, it understands what I mean and can somewhat help out. Besides those features, one of the things that I knew I would like but I think will be the biggest thing about the iPhone 4S for me... The Camera!

The camera is amazing... Maybe not to the photophile, but for me it's absolutely the best camera I've ever owned, better than all the point-and-shoot cameras I've ever used and it's always going to be with me in my pocket. I could go on and on, but I wanna go and play with my iPhone more.

Below is a picture comparison... the top pic was taken with the iPhone 3GS and the bottom pic with iPhone 4S.

SIRI part 2

The thing that keeps me most excited about the new iPhone which will be in my hands in merely 2 days, is of course, Siri.

I've already written an insanely long, boring and scattered post about Siri, but I'm so hype for this feature that I wanted to write another post about it... and this is it.

As iPhones are being unintentionally delivered early to various people around the globe, the Siri assistant is being tested plenty, and for the most part, it seems to be a success.

Many reviewers have already come out and said that Siri is working pretty much like they thought it would. There are some limitations, and that is to be expected, but for the most part it seems that the consensus is Siri is a helpful feature with a lot of potential. If and when the Siri API's are opened up for third party developers, this could really blow up. (Although there would need to be a lot of tweaking before that happened.)

It also seems that Siri has a sense of humor and a little sass... when asked a questions like "Will you marry me?" Siri responds "My End User Agreement does not allow marriage." When asked "What is the meaning of life?" Siri simply states "42" (an homage to Hitchhiker's Guide...) There are many other examples already, but I can't wait to do my own questioning to Siri to test the boundaries of what it can do.

Obviously, it won't be able to do overly complicated requests, but for questions it is unsure of, it will do a Google search, or you can simply tell it "Do a Google search for succubus." and it will comply.

Another aspects of this whole voice recognition thing is the ability for speech-to-text anytime that a keyboard pops up. It seems that this works just about as well, if not better, than most available speech-to-text programs out there, and so this has the capability to be very useful. I can already picture myself using it to text while driving, something I hate. I will also use it to compose emails on the go, tweets, and more. It also understands punctuation, so you would say to it, "How is your day going question mark, I'm ready for beer and wings period" and it will appear as 'How is your day going? I'm ready for beer and wings.' It might get confused if your sentence is "Your spine is curved like a question mark. I'll examine it in 4th period study hall." but every device has it's faults.

iPhone Update 2

It is now Wednesday, October 12, 2011 approximately 08:50 a.m.

Unfortunately there isn't much news on my iPhone. According to UPS Tracking, it is still in Louisville, KY. A select few people in places like Germany have been lucky enough to get their shipments already and have posted youtube videos, but like most, I still have 2 days to wait.

Some good news regarding my wife's iPhone (which was ordered directly through AT&T, whereas mine was ordered through Apple.) AT&T did send out an email ensuring that I am one of those who should expect my iPhone to be delivered on Friday (I guess they got inundated with phone calls of people who were just as nervous as I was to be stuck in 'backorder' status.) The only question with AT&T's deliveries is, who will be delivering, UPS or FedEx?


iOS5:

Almost forgot to mention that iOS 5 will be released today (probably around 1 p.m. eastern.) This is the biggest update to the OS that has occurred yet and includes such things as iCloud storage options, new notifications and 200 more features. Can't wait.

iPhone Update

It is Tuesday, 10/11/2011 7:43 a.m... earlier today, at approximately 3:00 a.m. (eastern) the first batch of iPhones, including my 32 GB Black AT&T iPhone 4S has arrived in Louisville, Kentucky, having been flown from Anchorage, Alaska. I am stoked that my phone is finally within the continental United States, in fact, it is a mere 615 miles away. At this rate, I should be able to get it tomorrow for chrissakes, but I know that's not going to happen... so until Friday, I will be anxiously watching my phone's progress. Yay!

Pre-Order's Are IN!!!

I am a few days late to update this, but on Friday morning, at 3 a.m. I woke up and began the process of pre-ordering the new iPhone 4S for my wife and me. It wasn't until closer to 4 a.m. that the Apple Store finally allowed the pre-orders to begin, and I got mine in (through the Apple Store App) after a few fruitless attempts and minor frustration. I decided to order my wife's iPhone through AT&T to see if it was any easier, and I was able to get it ordered pretty swiftly through the AT&T Upgrader App. I got my confirmation emails right away, and all is good in the hood, as they say.

This morning, I awoke to see that my iPhone has shipped. It has already transitioned from Shenzhen, China to someplace in Hong Kong and delivery date is set for Friday, October 14th.

The AT&T order is causing more concern... it still shows the order as 'Processing' and 'Backordered', but many who ordered through AT&T are in the same boat, so I'm not worried too much.

This is going to be a long week.

**UPDATE**

It is 10:21 pm and after checking my order status... The phone is now in Anchorage Alaska! Only almost just 4,000 miles away. Same continent... I'm hype.

My Apple Experiences

Since the news broke yesterday about Steve Jobs' passing, I have been reflecting about how truly amazing the gifts are that he gave to the world. This led me to think about my first experiences with a Steve Jobs created device.

As I'm sure many others first time is similar, my first time using an Apple product was in elementary school, playing Oregon Trail. It was 3rd grade for me, roughly 1990, and I'm not even sure which model of Mac it was, but every classroom had a Mac computer... this was my first experience with any computer, actually.

Around 1992, our family got it's first computer, which was a Windows PC (well actually, DOS to start out,) I always wanted another Mac like we used in school, but they were too expensive.

Throughout the rest of my time in school I worked with mostly Macs until Jr. High, which was filled with mostly PCs (this was roughly 1994.) They did have a few Macs in the computer lab, but due to the PCs lower price scheme, Windows machines were obviously dominate in many school districts.

I graduated in 2000 and started going to college in 2001. I remember late 2001, one of my friends who was deep into Apple products started raving about a little thing called an iPod. This was around the time when Napster was at it's peak, so digital music was becoming 'the next big thing.' He got one the second he was able to and loved showing it off. I found it pretty cool, but it would only work with Apple computers and it was expensive, so I simply looked at it as one of those high-tech, high priced items that were a luxury I would probably never get a chance to take part in.

It wasn't until early 2003 that I finally jumped on board the iPod craze, when it got it's first redesign with the scroll wheel and ff/rw/play/pause buttons right under the screen. I was hooked. In fact, this one single product made me fall head over heels with Apple and in 2004 I got my very first iMac (The iLamp.)

From 2003 up to 2008, I had purchased 6 different iPods (mostly because I was clumsy and kept dropping them,) Besides the iPod I got in 2003 I also got the 1st majorly redesigned iPod with only the scroll wheel, I got the 4th generation (which was pretty much the same,) I got the black video iPod, I got the iPod Shuffle Clip and in 2008 I bought a first generation iPod Touch from a friend who upgraded to the iPhone.

Speaking of the iPhone... the minute I saw it, I wanted it, but it was far too expensive and wasn't a necessity, so I had to hold off, but the second I got an iPod Touch, it was only a matter of my current phone's contract to run out before I was going to absolutely get an iPhone.

October 2009 was when my phone's contract ran out and that exact day (Columbus Day,) I went to the AT&T Store and got myself a brand new iPhone 3GS. I sold the iPod Touch to a friend, and haven't gotten an iPod since then... the iPhone has become my iPod. Next Friday, I will be getting the iPhone 4S, and my next computer purchase will more than likely be a MacBook or an iMac.

I have also gotten an iPad when it came out, an iPad 2 when it came out this year and last Christmas I got an AppleTV (all of these are already highly chronicled in this blog, and I love them all.)

RIP Steve Jobs

It was announced today that Steve Jobs has passed away due to complications with the cancer he has been battling for years. He was 56 years old, and he was taken away far too soon.

In history books of the future, his name will be alongside the likes of Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, Henry Ford and Alexander Graham Bell as one of the most brilliant innovators the world has ever seen. His genius was infectious, his will was strong and his mark will remain branded on humanity forever more.

I am grateful to have been alive to see so many of his visions bear fruit.

R.I.P. Steve Jobs, you've changed my life and you've changed the world. You will not be forgotten.

SIRI

The Siri Assistant is one of the most exciting features of the new iPhone 4S. In many ways it is a rehash of technology that has been done before, but in many other ways, it is quite revolutionary, in fact, I believe the 'S' in iPhone 4S stands for Siri (Apple has not defined the 'S' as of yet.)

Let's do some background. Siri was a spin-off of a company called SRI International, which is an offshoot of a DARPA funded project that some say is the largest artificial intelligence project ever launched. It doesn't specialize in voice recognition persay, it specializes in interpretting the meaning behind what you say.

Siri eventually wanted to use this technology for consumer use and they developed a 'personal assistant' app for the iPhone. This app could understand 'normal' english questions and commands and find things such as movie times, directions, nearby gas stations, and also do things like make reservations to a restaurant, all hands-free. It was quite impressive and shortly after the app's release, Apple made a move to buy Siri and in April of 2010 they made the deal final.

Apple had grandiose plans for Siri and decided to fully integrate the Siri personal assistant technology into their upcoming iOS, not only connecting it to information like movie listings, but also tying it into various apps.

Nuance, a company who has long been involved in voice recognition technology specifically, is being coupled with Siri, which then interprets the words and takes action. With these powers combined... the Siri digital personal assistant for iOS is born.

To give you an example of some previous attempts of this sort of technology, you could actually look no further than Apple itself. In iPhone 3GS, voice control features were added, and they worked somewhat decently. You could press in the home button and say something like "Call Mom... Mobile" or "Play album...Abbey Road" and it would do it, but beyond a few simple parsed phrases, it was useless. I highly doubt many people did actually use it except to show it off once or twice.

Some companies have similar programs integrated within their devices, but for the most part you still have to remember a slew of specified commands, and cannot speak naturally or it will have trouble understanding you. The Siri Assistance is not perfect either, but it seems pretty remarkable at understand your everyday speech and interpretting it.

For an example of this technology, let's say you wanted to find out what the weather was going to be like today. You could ask Siri in multiple different ways and it will bring you the same info. You could say "What's today's weather forecast?" or you could ask "What will the hourly temperature be?" or even "Will I need an umbrella today?"

It doesn't stop there. Siri is connected to a service called Wolfram Alpha, which can calculate and give you information about almost anything. If you were to ask it "How many days until Christmas?" It would give you the answer right away. You could ask "Who is Chester Copperfield?" and it will tell you that he is a character from the movie Goonies.

There are unlimited possibilities for what info you can ask it to get for you, and instead of turning on the phone, opening up an app, searching for info, finding an article, etc...etc... you could technically ask it a question without pulling the phone from your pocket and have the answer in the time it would have taken to turn on the phone.

That is great and all, but those things could be done with the Siri app alone... the integration into Apple's iOS is what makes Siri even more powerful.

Siri has connections with numerous apps in the iPhone, including SMS, Mail, Calendar, Reminders and more. This means that you can compose text messages or emails by dictation and then send it out, no fingers needed (well maybe one finger needed to press the home button.)

You can tell the phone "Remind me about the football game tomorrow at 7 p.m." and it will set a reminder. You could say "Please schedule a meeting for July 13th at 2 p.m." and the phone may talk back saying 'You already have an appointment scheduled for July 13th at 2 p.m., shall I still schedule meeting?" and you can answer back, "No, move meeting to 4 p.m." and it will move the meeting.

It also retains information and learns the more you use it. Here's an example given during the presentation, Siri was tasked to read back a text message that just came in which said 'When do you want to go out to dinner?'... Without responding, Siri was asked 'Do I have anything on Friday?' Siri responded with 'No, you have no appointments for Friday?' without telling it anything else, the presenter then said "Ok, reply... how about Friday?" and Siri automatically composed a reply text message that said 'How about Friday?' he could then either hit 'send' or tell it to send.

Please note that Siri is still in 'Beta' phase, which means it will only get better, but starting next Friday, I will have a chance to test it myself.

Introducing... The iPhone 4S

As many expected, Apple has pulled the veil off of their latest iPhone creation, and it looks pretty similar to the iPhone 4. The reveal left many disappointed, as they were expecting a totally redesigned phone with a bigger screen, but there are just as many people seeing the 4S as a very substantial upgrade.

I compare this release of the 4S to the iPhone 3GS release, although not a totally new phone it greatly improves upon it's predecessor. Luckily, I jumped on the iPhone ship when the 3GS came out, so I am in the 'S' cycle... I look at it like this. The iPhone 4 came out and had some problems with the antenna and proximity sensor, etc... so now that my 2 year contract is up, I end up with a much faster version of the iPhone 4 with all of the bugs worked out.


Let's talk about the 4S in depth, shall we...

Physically, the iPhone 4S seems identical to the Verizon iPhone 4. No bigger screen, no elongated home button, same glass on the front and back and all buttons in the same place.

Internally, there are some vast differences:

- First, the antennas have been moved around and new antennas added to make sure there is not a repeat of 'AntennaGate.'

- Second, this is now a World phone, meaning there doesn't have to be 2 different versions for each carrier.

- Third thing is the A5 chip, which is also used in the iPad 2. This creates extremely higher processing power and should make the 4S noticeably faster than the 4 and insanely faster than my current 3GS.

- Also notable is the increase in storage space. Along with 16 and 32 gigs, Apple is offering the 4S in 64 gigs as well.


These changes may be enough to win over some, but the biggest features come about in the software upgrades included in iOS 5.

- Cards App... Ok, this may not be a huge deal for people, but it's kind of neat. This app allows you to create cards using your pictures or whatever design you wish, and for $2.99, Apple will print the card and mail it out for you.

- Find My Friends App... This is another nifty new app, let's say you and some friends go to an amusement park and decide to go separate ways to ride different rides. With this app enabled, you can see where your friends are at, making it easy to meet up. There are numerous other uses to this as well... use your imagination.

- iCloud... This service pretty much automatically uploads a lot of your data to Apple's 'cloud' and allows you to access it from any of your iOS devices. This should be nice in saving storage space.

- iTunes Match... While there is going to be 5GB of free storage, this is pretty much going to be a subscription service where you can store all of your music on Apple's 'cloud' and you will have access to all of your music at anytime (not sure if Apple will stream the music or if you need to download it.) This will be a nice feature, again, saving you a lot of storage space.

- Much More... There are supposedly over 200 other features in iOS 5, including a Reminders App, swipe gestures and more.


This sounds like a lot, but the icing on the cake is a new feature that is integrated into the entire iOS, and that new feature is 'Siri' a digital personal assistant.

To sum it up, Siri is a voice recognition & artificial intelligence program that understands normal conversational questions and quickly provides you with answers. It also can act as a personal assistant, going as far as checking your calendar, scheduling events, setting reminders, etc, etc...

I could speak about Siri for days, so I will leave you for now and create a separate post all about the Siri Assistant.


In closing... The iPhone 4S will be available to pre-order this Friday, October 7th and will be released the following Friday, October 14th. I am staying awake (or waking up early) on Friday morning at 3:01 a.m. to make sure I get my pre-order in.

Next week can't come soon enough.

My iPhone Saga... So Far...

It was a chilly day in mid October 2009 when my 2 year AT&T contract finally ended. I had been using a Motorola Z9 up until that point (which was basically a Razr in the form of a slider.) The phone was sufficient enough for my needs, it made calls, text messages and I could sort of browse the web... sort of.

With the onslaught of smart-phones beginning to truly dominate the mobile phone market, my intrigue into Apple's iPhone was at an all-time high. Announced in 2007, made better in 2008 with the iPhone 3G and improved upon even further in 2009 with the 3GS, the iPhone was the phone to beat.

My first foray into what would later become 'iOS' was in early 2009, in the form of a used 1st generation iPod Touch that a friend of mine sold me after he transitioned to an iPhone 3G. I was blown away by the device, the intuitiveness and the apps. It went with me everywhere, I had my phone in my right pocket and my iTouch in the left. The only issue was the fact you had to have wi-fi to use most of the apps and features. This is when I really hungered an iPhone.

Fast Forward to that chilly October day, Columbus Day to be exact. My contract had expired and I was finally able to change my phone from a Motorola Z9 to an Apple iPhone 3GS, and of course I opted for the 32 GB version.

I remember that day clearly, well not so much the 'work' part of the day, but as soon as work was over, it was a mad dash to the mall's AT&T store to pick up an iPhone. I also had to go get fitted for a tux for my wedding in November, but priorities are priorities and I went to the mall first. It was a simple transaction, they grabbed the phone, put in my sim card and I was off.

It wasn't until later that day when I got home that I really dove head-first into setting the phone up, adding apps, adding contacts and testing it's capabilities. It was finally a reality... I had wanted an iPhone since the first one was announced in 2007 but didn't have the funds at the time, by 2008 I already had the Z9 and it's contract. 2009 was a great year!

Since I got the phone, it has gone with me everywhere, including in the shower, (after being wrapped in no less than three zip-lock bags.) I have done everything I could with the phone, including having it jailbroken for a while (until iOS 4 provided most of the things I was jailbreaking it for.) I fall asleep with the phone by my side every night.

I couldn't imagine ever going back to a regular dumb-phone, and through these two years, I've also played around with competition such as Android and HTC phones... and maybe because I'm so far embedded into Apple's world, but I don't think any other smart-phone out there can hold a candle to what Apple brings.

Fast Forward again to tomorrow's Media Event (I'll skip over the whole iPad thing... I've already written plenty of posts regarding my iPad Saga.) A new phone (or beefed up iPhone 4) will make an appearance, and I believe the biggest selling point is going to be The Assistant, which will successfully take voice recognition and artificial intelligence to the next level (or so Apple hopes.) Regardless of the announcement, I'm going to be getting a new iPhone, and unlike my previous attempts to acquire Apple products, I'm ordering it online, which should hopefully ensure I'll get one.

Tomorrow... It's Only a Day Away

Excitement is reaching it's peak... Apple's 'Let's talk iPhone' press event will be kicking off tomorrow at 1 pm eastern and will answer all of the questions that speculators have been debating back and forth since last year.

Judging by the evidence presented, it is very likely that Apple will be releasing an updated iPhone 4 (called iPhone 4S,) and offer three storage sizes, 16GB, 32GB and 64 GB, while the current iPhone 4 may get a bump down in storage (8GB) and be offered at the $99 price point. It doesn't look hopeful that Apple will release a redesigned iPhone 5 at this event, unless they have been absolutely amazing at preventing any info from being leaked.

Personally, since I've been using the iPhone 3GS for two years, I will happily get an updated iPhone 4. However, if I had been using the iPhone 4, I probably wouldn't upgrade, but that's just me.

I am actually glad that they aren't redesigning the phone using the 'teardrop' design... I never liked it and feel that it would not be as balanced when using it sideways (although it's hard to say since I haven't had it in my hands.) I like the current form-factor and I don't even mind the screen size. Many have been saying that if it's not redesigned or if the screen is not bigger that they will get an Android phone instead. That's ridiculous. Try as you may, even with Apple just offering a spec boost, the intuitive nature of the iPhone far outweighs what Android devices bring to the table. (*editor's note... in my opinion.*)

I am excited as hell to get the new iPhone... As I said earlier, I've been using the 3GS for two years, so I missed out on the iPhone 4 features like the retina display, the front facing camera, and the increased processing power. Add on the 8 mp camera boost, the even-more increased processor, the higher storage and the new 'Assistant' voice recognition software and I'm going to be a happy, happy camper.

Speaking of The Assistant (which is still a rumor, but seems very likely to be announced tomorrow,) I think this will absolutely be a game-changer. The potential of this software implemented into iOS will take us one step closer to living in a futuristic Star Trek world.

I've toyed around with both the Dragon Dictation by Nuance, and Siri Assistant apps (the two companies who will be instrumental in Apple's 'Assistant',) and have found that the voice recognition works extremely well... not perfect, but very well. There are limitations to these apps, and I imagine that Apple will figure out ways to make everything cohesive and intuitive.

With the Siri app, it already does a number of things well and I am positive that they will make the transition into iOS, such as finding directions, pulling up weather info, booking hotels or taxis, and a slew of other things. It was unable to get me store hours when I asked "What are Target's hours?" and it could not give me sports scores when I asked "What is the score of the Notre Dame and Purdue game?" I imagine that Apple will work this software to the point you will be able to ask it almost anything and it will find the answer somehow. Plus, you will be able to use speech-to-text whenever a keyboard pops up, which will make sending texts while driving much more safe. There are numerous other uses I can imagine, but it's anyone's guess what Apple will say tomorrow.

All I know is that I'm hype.